The Institute of Corrosion rebrand launch is coming soon! This will involve rebranding of our website, stationery, documentation and marketing material.

To assist with this, we are looking for images that are people-focused and celebrate the people that make ICorr: the scientists, the engineers, the academics, the designers, the facility managers, the businesses, the students, the teachers. We’d also like to capture a wide range of activities, people out on-site working, people in labs, people inspecting, people networking, people meeting socially, people achieving accreditations and awards, people studying and training. In addition, rather than tired-looking images of rusty components, we’re looking for uplifting photos of pristine, gleaming infrastructure to emphasise that our members get things right!

Deadline for Entry

The contest is open to all with a final submission date of 14 February 2020.

Please send your photo(s) to admin@icorr.org. Please note that max email size shall be no more than 10 MB

Format and Submission

Images must be at least 300 dpi in their original format and submitted digitally as TIFF or JPEG files.

Minor digital enhancement (enhancing the color/light) is acceptable, but borders, frames, special filters, text, copyright, watermarks or signatures are not permitted.

Each uploaded image should include the name, description of activity / object, project name / project location and year the photo was taken.

ICorr reserves the right to remove any pictures from the contest that are deemed unsuitable.

Copyright

Do not submit images you do not own or did not take yourself or any images downloaded from websites.

By signing the official entry form and/or submitting an image electronically, you are stating that you are the owner and copyright holder of the image submitted and participants accept and agree to be bound by the rules and the decisions of contest judges, whose decisions are final.

Although photographers retain the copyright to their images, by entering them into this contest they permit unrestricted usage by ICorr, without receiving any fee or compensation. This applies to winning and non-winning entries.

You also represent and warrant that the photograph is your original work. If your photograph contains identifiable people, you are stating that you have permission from all of the models and have a completed photo release form in your possession.

Prize

Apple iPad.

Winning photo will be featured on the cover of the rebranded Corrosion Management magazine and on the landing page backdrop of the rebranded ICorr website.*

Other selected photos may be used in the new ICorr website at the discretion of ICorr.

Winning photo will be picked by a panel of ICorr judges.

* Duration of winning photo being the backdrop will be at the discretion of ICorr.

A joint meeting with the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) was held at their newly refurbished auditorium in their Belgravia HQ, on 26 September. The audience of over 70, included Professor Ken Grattan, OBE, FREng, who is the Dean of the graduate school at City University, London, and who agreed to give the vote of thanks.

The evening Chairman, John T O’Shea, introduced Dr Fred Parrett, Hon Treasurer of the SCI London Group, who gave the first presentation on the laying of the first Transatlantic Telegraph Cables.

The electric telegraph was first developed by Samuel F. B. Morse in 1832 who also developed Morse Code. Land based cables to use the telegraph soon followed, and within a decade, more than 20,000 miles of telegraph cable criss-crossed the USA, the UK and Europe. Trials of underwater cable were undertaken by Samuel Morse across New York Harbour in 1842 and Charles Wheatstone across Swansea Bay in 1844. In 1851 a cable crossed the English Channel.

The problems of laying a cable across the Atlantic were a greater challenge, not just the technical and logistical problems, but financing such a great undertaking. The first attempt in 1857 failed when the cable broke, and could not be recovered. New finance was arranged and in August 1858 they succeeded, when the first transatlantic telegraph message was transmitted. Unfortunately the cable failed after only three weeks, which was thoughtto be due to breakdown of the cable insulation when voltages of a few thousand volts were used to try and speed up transmission speed.It took another 7 years before new finance was arranged and improved cable designs were developed for the next attempt. For this Brunel’s ship the Great Eastern was acquired, the largest ship in the world at that time. In 1865 it almost succeeded, starting in Valentia Bay, Ireland it reached 600 miles from Newfoundland when the cable again broke. The final success came one year later in August 1866 when the cable finally crossed the Atlantic and permanent telegraph communication established. The 1866 transatlantic cable could transfer 8 words a minute, and initially it cost $100 to send 10 words, which translates to about $1,340 today, and was mainly used by the British and American governments and large corporations.

The second presentation was given by Trevor Osborne, a Past President of ICorr and a Past Chairman of London Branch, on 50 Years of Oil and Gas Offshore Corrosion Control Experience and Transfer of Technology to Offshore Renewables.

Development of offshore structure corrosion control methodology in the North Sea, and all around the world, has been on-going for decades, in fact close to 50 years and possibly longer in some parts. Given this long experience, corrosion engineers rightly considered that all aspects of barrier coatings and cathodic protection were honed to a fine art and as a result one system followed another with great success, in fact Trevor had been involved in many offshore structure designs with responsibility for painting, coating, CP, biocides, inhibitors and other aspects of corrosion control. However the fabrication and installation of new offshore structures for the oil and gas market has declined greatly and that work load has in part been replaced by the upsurge in renewable energy requirements. Specifically offshore wind generation in the form of monopiles, transition pieces and substation fixed jackets. All exposed parts of each structure need to be addressed from a corrosion perspective if the asset is to be protected and the lifetime met.

The presentation walked the audience through the period of time from early offshore structure design and construction for the oil and gas markets, to the painful transition to wind energy, including the attendant problems that have occurred along the way and what should have been an easy transformation but often times was not.

The first meeting at the branch’s new venue, the Lancaster Hall hotel in Bayswater, was held on 10 October.Kevin Harold of Paintel Ltd gave a fascinating insight into the world of an Industrial Coating Applicator, taking a look at past, present and future practices in the industry. Kevin explained how the Industrial Coating Applicator Scheme (ICATS) has changed the view of Health and Safety and the concept of “slap it on and get out of here”, to ensure the work is compliant to the specification. He began his presentation by describing his journey as a painter from the era when PPE was non-existent, how he moved into industrial painting, became a painting inspector, and after joined the Tamar Bridge strengthening and widening project, found the painters could not apply coatings properly, so he began teaching them.

Even as late as the early 21st Century clients were not getting what they wanted in terms of standards or quality, and in 2006 after becoming aware of ICATS, registered his company, got his workforce trained and subsequently became a trainer himself.

Kevin could see the enormous benefits of ICATS, notably the evidence that the training results in major savings from less repeat work and the advantages gained by the asset owners and operators, so he became an ICATS senior specialist trainer, and the current ICATS course material, launched in 2018, was written by him and his wife Jo.He has also written the ICATS Supervisor course and the new Managers Coating Awareness course which provides an insight into coatings for specifiers and engineers.

Kevin finished his presentation by saying that a lot of asset owner operators are happier with the final product they get from ICATS accredited applications, and ICATS is now mandated by many companies.The enormous impact of ICATS on the whole industry has yet to be completely realised and it’s now going global.

The January meeting will be held on Wednesday 8th at the Lancaster Hall hotel (note change from usual second Thursday for this month), when there will be a panel discussion on “Linings for Extreme Duty” with Dr N Miskin, DuraPol, and Michael Harrison, Sherwin Williams.

The branch held a half-day networking event for sustaining members at the Severn Valley preserved steam railway on 26 September.

It was a well-attended event by members from all ICorr disciplines, with all members expressing thanks to ICorr for sponsoring the event in return for being a sustaining member. All members thought the day severed them well in terms of networking with other corrosion professionals. Following a 30min train ride on a steam train, lunch was severed within the Severn Valley museum, ICorr members then enjoyed the offerings at the museum followed by a train ride back to Kidderminster.

The feeling of the day was that ICorr should be organising more events like this up and down the UK as it is a real member benefit.